Bumble Bee Junction came about in 1996 from two conflicting factors—the fixed incomes of two disabled Veterans, and four children to feed. Thankfully, we were able to draw on previous skills and experiences such as cooking, canning, crochet, hunting, fishing, trapping, building, to pull us through.

Our main focus in the beginning, as it remains today, is gardening. No fancy methods or elaborate setups. We work the standpoint that well developed soil produces quality yields from healthy plants. We have since moved our homesteading efforts from NC to eastern TN, taking with us the positive experiences from our early days, and allowing us the benefit of also knowing what we might do differently. Now, 21 years down the road, we’ve incorporated a Rouen duck flock we’ve maintained through several generations, we are developing a breed of chickens suitable for our demands, and we are growing our Bob White quail breeding program. We have never forgotten where we began though—in the garden, sowing seeds, and pulling weeds. And though our children are grown and enjoying their lives, we still maintain four gardens, 16 raised beds, a 50+ tree orchard, grape and kiwi arbors, and a host of permaculture plantings on our 7.25 acre homestead.

That said, we are still newcomers to the homesteading community. We’ve spent the last 7 or 8 years helping new gardeners, both local and online, through our Facebook page: Bumble Bee Junction. We did not discover the “Homesteading Community” though until we began using YouTube recently to make simple slideshow videos of our adventures to post on our Facebook page several months ago. We love interacting with other homesteaders through YouTube and have a small simple channel, but we are a far cry from “content creators” ourselves. We are very happy to devote our time to our homestead, and make ourselves available to anyone needing help or advice with theirs.

If we can be of any assistance to others, our skill sets include: Gardening (container, raised bed, and flat ground), Soil Development, Cooking, Canning, Dehydrating, Food Storage, Chickens (including breed development / genetics), Rouen Ducks, Bob White Quail, Crotchet, Crafting, Essential Oils, Natural Herbs and Remedies, Sewing, Camping, Hunting, Fishing, and Construction. It is best to reach us through our Facebook page: Bumble Bee Junction. But if you look hard enough, you may stumble across us drifting around YouTube, meeting new folks and making new friends as we explore the “Homesteading Community” we were largely unaware existed until recently.

Thank you for doing this for others. We love the idea. It is so weird to feel like such “noobs” on YouTube when we’ve been homesteading for so long – having raised 4 kids to adulthood from our gardens…